Letter: NC teachers have never had jobs for life’

Tenure, as regards teachers, is a misnomer - it should be called the Fair Employment and Dismissal act. The act protects teachers from politically motivated dismissal. The action taken by the GOP legislature is about vindictiveness at its very core. The blame for poorly performing teachers falls on the shoulders of school administrators who do not document the efforts being made assist the teacher in improving and/or who have not document teaching that was substandard.

There are ways to easily remove teachers who have “tenure.” In the last few years this “tenure” has been referred to as “career status” rather than tenure to move away from the idea that “tenured” teachers had jobs for life. This has never been true in North Carolina and the instatement of “career status” was merely to protect the teacher and provide a viable reason for dismissal.

The very act of removing tenure demonstrates most clearly why “tenure” should be reinstated immediately.